The Red Queen

Philippa Gregory continues to amaze me with her detailed historical knowledge. This novel, which sort of parallels her novel The White Queen, tells the story of Margaret Beaufort Tudor Stafford Stanley, mother of Henry VII and matriarch of the Tudor dynasty.

Like The White Queen, there is a lot of intrigue and machinations and changes of loyalty. But unlike that novel, the subject of The Red Queen is NEVER queen. Yes, Margaret has ambitions, but they are almost entirely for her son. And she does work tirelessly to achieve them.

My only real complaint about the novel is that once the end came, it came quickly. It was almost anticlimatic. But history already told us what it was going to be, so I suppose Gregory couldn't have done much more. At least she didn't make King Richard say, "my kingdom for a horse." That would have been just too trite.

The Red Queen: A Novel (The Cousins' War)